ALKYLATION, ISOMERIZATION AND CRACKING ACTIVITY OF A NOVEL SOLID ACID, ALCL2(SG)N

Research on the strong acid catalyst, AlCl2(SG)n (where SG = silica gel), has been extended to the study of a number of acid-catalyzed reactions. In the alkylation of benzene and toluene, the catalyst was found to be active in a batch reactor but gave poor selectivity at elevated temperatures in a flow reactor. The isomerization of n-butane, n-pentane and n-hexane has been examined with particularly successful results obtained in the former case. Isomerization of n-butane approached the theoretical conversion limit at room temperature and remained at that level when HCl(g) was added to the reaction stream.